There is a leadership crisis in Iraq - opinion

Iraq as a democracy has largely failed. The Iraq war was seen as a turning point that would usher in an era of freedom and opportunities. That thesis proved wrong. Iraq has since seen instability and chaos with little peace and calm to offer its citizens. It has suffered huge problems, like the emergence of ISIS, and came to a near-total collapse. 

A major reason for all this is the failure of the political leaders to run the country effectively. Celebrated that it would turn into a functioning democracy, it has fared very poorly. The failure may be attributed to the dominant political factions currently having the political clout to run the country’s affairs. An even bigger quagmire is the support of consecutive US administrations for the Iraqi ruling elites.

Since 2003, consistent governments have seen rampant corruption. Transparency International spotlights worldwide corruption via its flagship research project, Corruption Perceptions Index. Iraq was placed at 160 out of 180 countries it reported on. It means that Iraq was considered one of the worst corruption-riven countries. In 2019, the National Democracy Institute (NDI), a nonprofit organization working to promote democracy, released an extensive poll. It said 82% of Iraqis had concerns about corruption at the highest levels of government, while 83% thought that corruption is getting worse.

There is another reason that clarifies why there are no checks on the activities. As one Iraqi leader put it, “There is no solution. Everybody is corrupt, from the top of society to the bottom.” That is the situation the Iraqi people are facing. Harvard Humanitarian Initiative surveyed the people of the Mosul region, and it found that they saw corruption as a primary reason for the emergence of ISIS. The mechanism under which the Iraqi people operate is a very sinister one, known as Muhasasa Tai’fa.

Under this process, ministerial positions are divided among the winners of each election. Additional leverage is also given to these politicians under the Wikala system, via which these politicians can appoint people to positions of senior civil service.

The situation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) has also not been good. Powerful families there hold clout over politics and economics. The Barzani and Talabani families have control over who gets contracts and also have the central bank in their hands. A New Republic investigation uncovered the link between Kurdish and American firms. It discovered how these firms used shell companies to get favors from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (of the Talabani family), one of the region’s two major parties (the other one being the Kurdistan Democratic Party), and have a monopoly over the sale of fuel to the US military, escalating prices.

And this is not only limited to the economy. A deep divide between the Peshmerga – KRI’s military wing – the intelligence community and the police has made cracks in the security matrix. There are influential political figures who have their militias. This has made formal institutions, including the police, dysfunctional in bringing any corrupt individual with political links to justice. If all this continues, this may lead to instability in the KRI, and the Kurds might lose support for the independence they are craving.

THIS BRINGS us to the issue of the US working with the leaders of the KRI and Iraq. The US has worked with consecutive Iraqi governments since the fall of Saddam’s regime to help bring stability to the Iraqi region. While some have been sincere, most leaders that Iraq has seen since 2003 have been corrupt and involved in malpractice. Many had sectarian tendencies and ties to militias, like the ones sponsored by Iran.

All this kept consecutive Iraqi governments inefficient in implementing the two conditions that are considered the sine qua non for a stable country to emerge: security and providing people with basic necessities. The US failed in its primary goal of bringing stability to Iraq and ultimately to the region. The Kurdish region has been left unchecked by the US. Certain leaders hailing from powerful families hold sway over all things important with near-zero accountability, and they still enjoy US support.

The Americans tried in the past to contain the influence the two major parties have, like the effort in 2007 to bring the parties under the command of the Interior Ministry. Still, the efforts have failed not because of the friction between the two parties, but because the US hasn’t exercised financial and economic muscle to cajole them into accepting reforms suggested by Washington.

The question that now lingers is that what ought to be done. Well, there may be some light at the end of the tunnel. The US now has a new administration. President Joe Biden has decades of political experience to his credit and has an excellent team. He has dealt with Iraqi affairs while serving at various positions, most notably as vice president. The Biden administration now has a choice to make. It has a choice: Work with the leaders who have failed consistently in Iraq and the Kurdish region, KRI, or revise American policy.

For starters, the Biden administration should make clear that the US isn’t going to tolerate the actions of the current political establishments in Iraq, including the KRI. One way of sending this message is the application of the Magnitsky Act. Employing this act, the US can apply sanctions on foreign officials. The Biden administration should use this tool to sanction not only tiny political figures but also top political personalities. The US should strengthen the formal political institutions to the extent that they can bring influential figures to account for their actions, without suffering negative repercussions when doing so. Biden’s administration should work with these formal institutions to lessen and gradually end the influence of proxy militias.

The current Iraqi leaders have failed miserably. The dominant parties in the KRI have taken control of the region and have stifled every other opposition. It is the right time to make these leaders accountable, with American help. New leaders should be appointed who are dedicated to serving their people, not pursuing their interests or serving their patrons. They should be given the platform and whatever support Washington can give them. By showing its teeth to the current political elites, the US could give sincere leaders the space they need to emerge.

But it depends on the current administration’s willingness to act on this call to duty. If the Biden administration is willing to do it, it can do it. Iraq has been absent from Biden’s policy speeches. But it would be a grave mistake to forego the problems of Iraq. It is time that the US prioritized Iraq as a significant foreign policy challenge.

Dealing with Iraq will prove to be a huge challenge for the Biden administration. It will take time. The first step in that process should be the administration’s disengagement from a corrupt bunch of Iraqi leaders while looking for other options, like strengthening government institutions, and applying sanctions on corrupt political figures to send them a message that they should start packing their bags, that their time has passed. This way, the US could hope to see new leadership in Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.